3. Foundation, by Isaac Asimov - Asimov’s Robot series is what made me study Electrical Engineering, hoping to design the next robot. I didn’t learn until Junior year in college that CS / AI was probably closer to what I wanted to do, but by then, I was too far into my EE program to change.

5. Chung Kuo: The Middle Kingdomby David Wingrove - So excited to read a Sci Fi book centered around China. Like all above, the first book was best. Plodded thru the rest of the series. The ending was a disappointment. Some of the violence was too much for me.

Other Sci Fi I’ve really enjoyed:

Excessionby Iain M. Banks - I love Ian’s imagination in the Culture but often his plots disappoint. Just enjoy the journey.

Where East Eats West by Sam Goodman - a good, street-smart book for doing business in China

Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss - fascinating book about previous lives, reincarnation; if nothing else, it helps you ask, “What is the 1 reason I’m (back) on Earth? What’s the 1 lesson my soul came back to the physical world to learn?” If you drop the metaphysical aspects of the question, the reflection is still very deep.